Integration of Data and Publications - Alliance for Permanent Access
Integration of Data and Publications - Alliance for Permanent Access
Integration of Data and Publications - Alliance for Permanent Access
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Report on <strong>Integration</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Data</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Publications</strong> Grant Agreement no.: 261530<br />
journals, it is reported that requests <strong>for</strong> data underlying the published articles were only<br />
successful in one case out <strong>of</strong> ten, in spite <strong>of</strong> the journals’ clear policies (Savage <strong>and</strong><br />
Vickers 2009) 34 .<br />
3.3. New limits on Supplemental Files to journal articles: restrictions to supplements<br />
The notion is growing that scholarly journals struggle to h<strong>and</strong>le the exponential growth<br />
in supplementary data files <strong>and</strong> the responsibility <strong>for</strong> them in terms <strong>of</strong> securing<br />
permanent access <strong>and</strong> long term preservation. As an effect, the Journal <strong>of</strong> Neuroscience<br />
has declared a new policy in 2010 to no longer accept supplementary materials at all.<br />
Instead, authors may host supplemental material on an external web site <strong>and</strong> include in<br />
their article a footnote with a URL pointing to that site <strong>and</strong> a brief description <strong>of</strong> its<br />
contents. But reviewers <strong>and</strong> editors will no longer evaluate the supplemental material,<br />
the article as submitted will be treated as a self contained entity.<br />
At their journal site we can read the reasoning <strong>for</strong> this there is a clear indication that<br />
the exploding volume <strong>and</strong> the burden <strong>for</strong> peer review was becoming a real obstacle<br />
(underlining added by us) 35 :<br />
Although The Journal has published electronically since 1996,<br />
supplemental material first appeared around 2003. Since then, the amount <strong>of</strong><br />
material associated with a typical article has grown dramatically (….) The sheer<br />
volume <strong>of</strong> supplemental material is adversely affecting peer review.<br />
The related editorial even speaks <strong>of</strong> a ‘proliferation among authors’ adding more <strong>and</strong><br />
more material in the article supplements.<br />
In a similar context, we find a new policy by the journal Cell, implemented in October<br />
2009 <strong>and</strong> again referring to the ever growing amount <strong>of</strong> supplementary material<br />
(underlining added by us) 36 :<br />
Supplemental In<strong>for</strong>mation is a useful resource <strong>for</strong> presenting essential supporting<br />
materials online, <strong>and</strong> Cell Press is committed to the publication <strong>of</strong> these<br />
materials. However, as the amount <strong>of</strong> Supplemental In<strong>for</strong>mation has grown, it<br />
has become increasingly difficult <strong>for</strong> authors, reviewers, <strong>and</strong> readers to navigate<br />
due to the volume <strong>of</strong> in<strong>for</strong>mation <strong>and</strong> the lack <strong>of</strong> defined structure <strong>and</strong> limits<br />
its. To<br />
address these problems, we are introducing these guidelines, which we believe<br />
will make Supplemental In<strong>for</strong>mation more useful <strong>and</strong> accessible to readers.<br />
The restrictions that Cell puts in place concern a limit on volume <strong>and</strong> total number <strong>of</strong><br />
supplementary items:<br />
The total number <strong>of</strong> supplemental data items <strong>of</strong> all types (figures, tables, movies<br />
<strong>and</strong> other) per paper may not exceed two times the number <strong>of</strong> figures <strong>and</strong> tables<br />
34 Savage <strong>and</strong> Vickers 2009 in PLoSOne:<br />
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0007078<br />
36 Cell editorial: http://www.cell.com/retrieve/pii/S0092867409011817<br />
Opportunities <strong>for</strong> <strong>Data</strong> Exchange (ODE) –www.ode-project.eu 45